Cop accused of tackling 15-year-old in retaliation for videotaping

Family is seeking million-dollar judgement for violation of his civil rights.

A New Jersey police officer and his employer, the township of Hanover, are facing a million-dollar civil rights lawsuit after the officer allegedly tackled a 15-year-old boy in retaliation for his use of a video camera to document the encounter.

In March 2012, Austin DeCaro and two friends cut through Black Brook Park on the way to the home of one of the boys in the group. Because the park is closed at night, they were stopped by Joseph Quinn, a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car. The boys sat on the curb on Quinn's orders. DeCaro, who says he carries a camcorder with him everywhere he goes, decided to document the encounter.

"Turn that video camera off right now, or it's going to be mine forever," said a voice on the videotape that DeCaro says belongs to Quinn. When DeCaro asked "why," there was a scuffle as Quinn allegedly tackled the 100-pound teenager.

"Now you're under arrest," the police officer said in the video. "You get off of me," DeCaro replied.

The video appears to show the camera being thrown. DeCaro says it was damaged as a result.

"They were going to charge him with obstruction, vandalism, and being in the park after dark," DeCaro's father told a local television reporter. But when the video of the encounter was shown to the police chief, the department "dropped all charges except for being in the park."

In May, the family filed a lawsuit against Quinn and the city, charging the officer with using excessive force and violating their son's constitutional rights. Now Quinn is getting some unwanted publicity thanks to a story on the local television news. The police department declined to comment for that story, citing the pending lawsuit.

I need to invest in self-surveillance equipment. Dash cam for sure. Someone needs to invent some discreet, wearable stuff too, like sunglasses or a belt buckle. The state is recording us at all times, we need to record it back.

The cynic in me thinks that the message will be "no half measures, destroy the evidence next time", rather than you can't beat up kids. Without the tape it would be part 1,325,324,121 of "ordinary citizen's word vs a cop's".

I don't like what the officer did and he should be officially censured for it. The kid, however, should not get anything even remotely approaching $1M--that's just bat shit insane--especially since he was breaking the law...and copping attitude like all kids his age do these days. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) that he was nowhere near as polite as they're making him out to be.

We need a DA that will bring charges against Police before this craps stops. Charge him with battery and assault. Let the COP plea down like he makes so many others for the false charges he did (and likely did to others). At least this time the charges of battery and assault have merit.

Personally, I think that the city & the cop should split the fine between them, whatever it is, and then pay the lawyer fees (separately). Until such time as there are actual penalties for the small handful of cops (and it IS a small number of them that are making the vast majority look bad), there will be no end to it.

I think we need to have a national survey in this country to answer all the "what-ifs" for these sorts of judgments.

"How much would someone have to pay you to allow a cop to tackle you to the ground in retaliation for legally filming them?"

Then we set min and max tort limits based on the responses.

I bet the average is a low six figures. Tops.

A national referendum on compensation for illegal assault is not a good idea. I feel the amount is appropriate for setting an example, and if the kid/family actually get it, I don't have a problem with that.

While the vast majority of police are good people, just like the rest of the country, there are a small group that are not, just like the rest of the country. However, the police have elevated permissions, so keeping those cops honest through the recording of their actions is entirely appropriate.

Chmilz wrote:

I need to invest in self-surveillance equipment. Dash cam for sure. Someone needs to invent some discreet, wearable stuff too, like sunglasses or a belt buckle. The state is recording us at all times, we need to record it back.

Both of your examples exist and are affordable. Just add "camera" to your term and google it.

While the officer had no right to do what he did, 1 million dollars seems like a lot to me.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. I'd see him fired, and a message to all the police officers out there that this crap won't be tolerated. But I doubt there's any reason for damages here.

Well, there is the damaged camcorder, and MAYBE a few thousand if the kid was injured. But beyond that, I'm not sure there's much grounds for anything at all. They WERE in the park illegally, so the initial contact and even the arrest were not unfounded.

Of course, the cop should be disciplined on top of that. Not sure about firing him, but something he won't want to risk repeating, anyway.

I don't like what the officer did and he should be officially censured for it. The kid, however, should not get anything even remotely approaching $1M--that's just bat shit insane--especially since he was breaking the law...and copping attitude like all kids his age do these days. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) that he was nowhere near as polite as they're making him out to be.

"...especially since he was breaking the law.."?

What does that have to do with being compensated for abuse by police? So far as I understand it (IANAL), the law the teen was violating was about on a level with jaywalking, or ignoring a Do Not Walk On The Grass sign.

While the officer had no right to do what he did, 1 million dollars seems like a lot to me.

It's called punitive damages. That large sum of 1 million dollars is intended to deter the defendant and other policemen from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of this lawsuit.

I don't like what the officer did and he should be officially censured for it. The kid, however, should not get anything even remotely approaching $1M--that's just bat shit insane--especially since he was breaking the law...and copping attitude like all kids his age do these days. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) that he was nowhere near as polite as they're making him out to be.

Breaking the law - especially for a victimless crime like this - does not remove the rest of his rights.

I would also speculate that any politeness directed towards the cop was mainly because he knew he was recording. However, cops enforce law, not manners. Yes, it's counterproductive to mouth off to a cop, but it's the cops job to remain calm and professional in the face of attitude. If he breaks personal possessions because he gets a few harsh words, what's he going to do when he encounters a real criminal?

What people seem to neglect here is that this money will not come out of the Policeman's pocket but out of the city's coffers. That tax revenue that the citizens of the city paid to the city (including the kid and his family). I wonder if PDs are required to carry malpractice insurance in which case, the above is probably moot. If not, I begin to think that maybe they should.

Aggravated theft, vandalism, excessive force, and false arrest. Nope, doesn't deserve being punished. The cop could have just asked them to leave the park instead of threatening them with obedience or jail.

When I was growing up, I was taught to respect police and I was taught that they're there to help us. There still ARE some of whom this is true, but I've experienced enough to know that there's a huge percentage of police that make me just as scared of them as I am of criminals. The police culture is one that pushes officers to believe they have special rights that we don't have, and that culture teaches most of its members that lying, cheating or anything else is justified when it's in the service of hiding a misdeed by one of their own. Police are out of control, but most of the mainstream middle-class population doesn't understand that yet.

What people seem to neglect here is that this money will not come out of the Policeman's pocket but out of the city's coffers. That tax revenue that the citizens of the city paid to the city (including the kid and his family). I wonder if PDs are required to carry malpractice insurance in which case, the above is probably moot. If not, I begin to think that maybe they should.

This will serve as a motivation for government to police their their own cops and create expected standards of conduct.

I need to invest in self-surveillance equipment. Dash cam for sure. Someone needs to invent some discreet, wearable stuff too, like sunglasses or a belt buckle. The state is recording us at all times, we need to record it back.

Because the money comes from *hand waving* the magic ether in the sky. It's not like that's taxpayer money. Yeah, let's punish the police somehow by robbing the state! Make 'em pay!

I really don't like the kid in this case. You can protect your civil liberties without being an ass to the police. When the cop asks you to turn off the camera, you let him know that you are concerned about protecting your civil liberties and, in this case, are not really sure if they are an officer. You don't just say "Why?" with attitude. If you speak with the respect that humans are generally expected to show to other human beings, I'd say it's unlikely you'll be tackled. If you do get taken down, at least nobody like me is going to be thinking "you deserved that."

When I was growing up, I was taught to respect police and I was taught that they're there to help us. There still ARE some of whom this is true, but I've experienced enough to know that there's a huge percentage of police that make me just as scared of them as I am of criminals. The police culture is one that pushes officers to believe they have special rights that we don't have, and that culture teaches most of its members that lying, cheating or anything else is justified when it's in the service of hiding a misdeed by one of their own. Police are out of control, but most of the mainstream middle-class population doesn't understand that yet.

So, you were taught to respect police by virtue of their wearing a badge? From what I can tell, these people are just as capable of crime and assault as any pedophile, rapist, or drug dealer. While MOST don't exhibit these behaviors, we can't default to them being there to protect us any more than what we can do for ourselves (police or military). They are there to judge us, to condemn us, and to arrest us as a means to make us obedient to their demands. If you do not comply with their orders about how to behave in their presence (i.e., don't record me, don't respond with attitude, worship the ground I walk on), then their subjects are liable to get a fat lip. Something is wrong here, when we are compelled to fear them due to extrajudicial abuse.

When I was growing up, I was taught to respect police and I was taught that they're there to help us. There still ARE some of whom this is true, but I've experienced enough to know that there's a huge percentage of police that make me just as scared of them as I am of criminals. The police culture is one that pushes officers to believe they have special rights that we don't have, and that culture teaches most of its members that lying, cheating or anything else is justified when it's in the service of hiding a misdeed by one of their own. Police are out of control, but most of the mainstream middle-class population doesn't understand that yet.

I'm sorry, but that depends entirely on where you live. If you live in a nice area with low crime rates the cops are usually quite nice. I mean, there's a pretty good chance you actually know a few of them. On the other hand, if you live in the city or a place with high crime rates, you're experience is likely to differ. You can't just blame the cop's personality for this; that would be incredibly ignorant.

Cops in those areas get shot. And killed. Do you honestly expect a cop working in, by definition, life-threatening conditions to be so concerned about civil liberties when, in the back of his mind, he's really a good deal more focused on just not getting shot?

DavidinAla wrote:

Police are out of control, but most of the mainstream middle-class population doesn't understand that yet.

Do you know why? Because most of the people you are talking about probably live near good cops. They like their cops, as evidenced by the fact that they aren't always trying to shoot them.

While the officer had no right to do what he did, 1 million dollars seems like a lot to me.

While I agree that it is probably far more money than the kids deserve, this is an attempt to send a message to law enforcement that they won't be able to ignore: that their are consequences to violating a private person's civil liberties. Also, the lawyers for both sides will probably negotiate the amount down to a much lower settlement. Their starting at a high number so they have plenty of room to maneuver.

What people seem to neglect here is that this money will not come out of the Policeman's pocket but out of the city's coffers. That tax revenue that the citizens of the city paid to the city (including the kid and his family). I wonder if PDs are required to carry malpractice insurance in which case, the above is probably moot. If not, I begin to think that maybe they should.

and

flash__ wrote:

Because the money comes from *hand waving* the magic ether in the sky. It's not like that's taxpayer money. Yeah, let's punish the police somehow by robbing the state! Make 'em pay!

Wait, so a result of something like this is that taxpayers would actually have a reason to care that their police department isn't abusing their power? Oh the horror!

Because the money comes from *hand waving* the magic ether in the sky. It's not like that's taxpayer money. Yeah, let's punish the police somehow by robbing the state! Make 'em pay!

Wait, so a result of something like this is that taxpayers would actually have a reason to care that their police department isn't abusing their power? Oh the horror!

Using taxpayer money won't cause taxpayers to care about police abuses any more than using taxpayer money will cause them to care about the national budget deficit.

Your point could not have been easier to defeat. And I insulted Congress (very) implicitly as well! Two birds, one stone!

EDIT: And before you say there are people that care about the deficit, consider that many of the people that helped us get that deficit are still in office, and the number of people that care, while non-zero, is still minuscule in comparison to those that don't.

Timothy B. Lee / Timothy covers tech policy for Ars, with a particular focus on patent and copyright law, privacy, free speech, and open government. His writing has appeared in Slate, Reason, Wired, and the New York Times.